


Fly With Me, To A World So Free

by PatchworkIdeas



Series: WinterFRE 2020 [14]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: (For now very slight) References to, Alternate Universe, Etrian Odyssey Nexus - Freeform, Falling Into, Gen, M/M, Magical Artifacts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:28:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22844068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatchworkIdeas/pseuds/PatchworkIdeas
Summary: In the midst of despair, hope can be found in impossible places.
Relationships: Fíli/Kíli (Tolkien)
Series: WinterFRE 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1604650
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19
Collections: GatheringFiKi - Winter FRE 2020





	Fly With Me, To A World So Free

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Prompt Nr.79:  
> Fili and Kili fall into a parallel fantasy universe of your choice

"I wish we could leave." 

Kili's voice is quiet, little more than a whisper. Fili still looks around, terrified of anyone hearing.

Of Thorin hearing, really. 

Their uncle hasn't been the same, ever since Erebor was reclaimed, and it just seems to get worse every day.  
There is war on the horizon. And Fili knows it's one they can’t win, not only fourteen strong. Thorin will get them killed, but he is also their king, and none dare to speak against him.  
It’s treason.  
Yet...

"We shouldn't have come at all. Amad was right, this whole venture was cursed from start to finish. I wish we had left before we ever heard about uncles plan, when we still could." 

They keep digging through the piles of gold in silence, each lost in their thoughts. They had made plans, as young people did, of leaving on an adventure, bringing riches back to their people in the Blue Mountains, of finding their freedom on the way. 

Of finding comfort in each other, without the fear of discovery. 

It had seemed so clear back then, so perfect. Thorin offered each of the company a boon, a reward they could ask that would not be denied.  
Both Fili and Kili had asked for the same thing: the freedom to marry who they chose, without rules or refusal or single bad word.  
Thorin had looked at them oddly back then, but he had no idea just what they had really asked for.  
It would have been a battle even with the contract. Now? With Thorin goldsick? It’s hopeless. They will either die in the coming days - or live, to be all but sold to the highest bidder, greed replacing the love that had connected their family once. 

It wasn't supposed to end like this. 

Fili's hands find a particularly odd little trinket, shining like a mirror, with a soft glow radiating from within. It’s unlike any gem or metal he has ever seen before. Fili has only ever heard stories about the Arkenstone, has often wondered if they might be exaggerated, like he had wondered if the amount of gold and riches his uncle had spoken off could even exist at all. 

Glancing around, hiding the light with his body, he pulls his brother close. 

"Do you think that's...?" 

They both look it over. It reflects them, but distorted, like ripples in a pond. It’s extra-ordinarily pretty, for sure, but... 

"All of this, for that? For nothing more than a trinket? It can't be." 

Fili feels his brother lean against him, before slowly sliding down. It can't be, and surely any minute they would be screamed at to get back to work, to find the Arkenstone, as if they hadn't been doing nothing but searching for days on end already.  
But Fili can't look away. He can see his brother doing the same through the distorted reflection.

They look so perfect like this.

Gold and Ebony, Lion and Raven, side by side as they always have been and always should be.  
The image clears, and there they are, smiling, kissing, arm in arm under an endless sky.  
They look _happy._

And for a moment, Fili wishes for nothing more than to be there, wherever there might be, with his brother by his side, on adventures of their own choosing. He can feel Kili's hands cradling his, wet cheeks pressing against his own, tears blurring his sight.  
He can feel wind. 

Fili gasps, as if breaking through waters surface. The air is sweet and clear and cold, a stark contrast to the heat by his side, the familiar voice, as scared as he feels, the only anchor in his tumultuous mind. 

"Fili? What just happened? Where are we?" 

Below them, miles and miles below, the ocean stretches in all directions. The railing they are leaning against is the only thing stopping their fall. They are standing on wood, a ship perhaps, but how could they have gotten so high up? 

Behind them, a city, impossibly big, but dwarfed by the giant propellers holding them all afloat, preventing their fall from the dizzying height. 

Fili can see people scurry to and from, as if they aren't all standing on an impossibility, as if the world hasn't just shifted, changed, and isn't where it’s supposed to be. 

The wind grabs and pulls the scroll out of his limp fingers. Kili catches it, reflexively, before it can fly out of their reach forever. 

There is nothing else in his hands. No mirror, no gold.

Kili opens the scroll. 

"Welcome Adventurers, on this quest to explore the long lost continent of Lemuria and find it’s hidden treasures. We thank you for your courage in signing on to this venture."

There are instructions below, rules, rewards, information. 

And their names, signed with familiar flourish.


End file.
